Chapter 64: A Helping Hand of Righteousness

  The white-armored warrior shook his head and said, "No need to try anymore. In the team, except for Father and Uncle Moon, you have the highest power. With your mid-tier War God's power, it's not enough, and we two upper-tier Sword Saints can't do anything. The three of us combined are not much stronger than you alone." Now I finally understand how strong they really are. When martial skills are cultivated to the level of Sword Saint, every upgrade will bring a completely different realm. If I combine all my current abilities, I can barely contend with a mid-tier Sword Saint, and it's hard to say who would win or lose. If I could become the Blood Red Angel again, maybe I could fight an upper-tier Sword Saint, but there's almost no hope of winning. And that Lü Feng has actually reached the level of mid-tier War God, which is unimaginable. With his strength, he's only ranked third in the Holy Dragon Knights Team. It seems that when the Dragon God Prince said that they could destroy the Demon and Beast tribes at any time, it was not an empty boast. I didn't dare move a single bit, reducing my metabolism to its lowest level, stopping my breathing, and relying solely on my internal energy to sustain my life. I don't want to be discovered and die young!

  Lü Feng sighed and said, "If it really doesn't work out, we can only stay here for a long time. We can't let others get their hands on it."

  Huang Jia warrior said, "I think that even if we don't guard it, it doesn't matter. Since you can't get in, others won't be able to either. This cave looks small, but it's like a copper wall and an iron fortress."

  Lü Feng turned his head and glared at him, saying: "You're also over 120 years old, how can you still be like a child? We can't get in because we don't know the way in. This place is not something that human power can enter. There must be some special method. If there really is a divine artifact inside and the enemy finds a way to inherit it, what consequences will it have for our Dragon God? You should understand."

  The Huangjia warrior lowered his head and muttered: "Is the divine artifact that easy to inherit?"

  Lü Feng was about to say something when his ear suddenly twitched, and he turned around, saying: "Who's there?" I was instantly startled; despite being so cautious, could it be that I had still been discovered?

  Before I could even respond, a clear voice replied: "Your Excellency has such profound skills, we've only just arrived and you've already discovered us. Is there really such talent among the Dragon Knights?" My heart felt a bit relieved, realizing that they hadn't actually discovered me. Although I couldn't see who this person was, I could tell from their voice that it was Gokawa, the commander of the Demon Tribe's Imperial Guard. Lucifer, although his abilities were slightly higher than mine, he had been discovered as soon as he arrived because he wasn't prepared enough. What made me feel sorry for him was that he actually thought his opponent was a Dragon Knight - he was probably going to die soon. Anyway, he was an enemy, so it didn't concern me; on the contrary, I could take this opportunity to observe the abilities of these veteran Dragon Knights.

  The dark figure of Kurokawa floated down and landed in front of the three Dragon Riders, at which point he too noticed the differences between the three giant dragons and furrowed his brow, saying: "Kurokawa of the Demon Tribe, greetings."

  Lifeng and the other two didn't make a move, but Lifeng let out a heavy hum. I felt like the air around us was trembling with his humming voice. Kokawa, being close to him and also his target, took a step back under the shockwave of the sound wave. His face changed color as he said, "You... you are..."

  A large amount of cyan mist burst out from Lü Feng's body, instantly enveloping the surrounding area within a ten-meter radius. The three giant dragons on the ground didn't move at all, still lazily lying there. Lü Feng sneered and said: "Young one, didn't expect this, did you? We are both Dragon Riders, we won't go provoke your Demon Clan, yet you come here to seek death instead. I know you're one of the only two four-winged Fallen Angels in the Demon Clan. Since you've discovered our secret, today, you'll have to stay here."

  Kogawa unconsciously took a few steps back under the opponent's strong pressure.

  Lü Feng said: "Tian Gang, Song Ren, you two go and capture those few little rascals. This kid will be left to me." As he spoke, he took another step forward, his green sword flashing like silk threads towards Gu Chuan.

  The other two dragon riders responded in unison: "Yes, Uncle Li." They transformed into yellow and white rays of light and rushed towards the direction where Gu Chuan appeared.

  Kogawa's body was covered in black millet, resisting the invasion of green millet. He shouted loudly: "Wait a minute!"

  The fierce wind slightly paused and said, "Do you have anything else to say?"

  Furukawa Michi: "What did you just call them?"

  Lü Feng smiled slightly and said, "What? You also know them?"

  At this time, the forest on the left side responded with a sound of energy collision. With several miserable cries, everything returned to calm again. Tian Gang and Song Ren, two dragon riders, respectively caught two fallen angels with two wings and floated back.

  Kogawa's expression changed, and he said: "You are the ones who rose to fame sixty years ago..."

  The sky just smiled slightly and said: "Not bad, you guessed it right, so don't think about escaping, obediently surrender."

  Kotogawa looked at the four fallen angels lying on the ground, knowing they had no chance of winning, and sighed, "I didn't think you'd still be alive, to fall into the hands of these senior experts, I admit defeat."

  The sky smiled slightly and said, "Not only are we not dead, but my father is also still alive. Your demon clan has repeatedly invaded our territory, and we have not taken action. It's not that we're afraid of you, if it weren't for the ancestors' legacy, our dragon gods would have unified the Jin Yuan continent long ago."

  Kogawa's face was filled with a look of desperation, and he loosened his grip, throwing the long sword to the ground. With a stern expression, he said: "Shonen, go and seal off his powers. After the Five-Colored Radiance has passed, we'll capture him again. I still want to try once more; I don't believe I won't be able to enter." As he spoke, he turned around and walked towards the cave entrance once again.

  Song Ren responded with a sound, drifting towards Gu Chuan. Just as the fierce wind weakened its control over Gu Chuan, Gu Chuan suddenly lifted his head, and intense killing intent shot out from his eyes. A large amount of dark mist burst forth from his body, and a vast expanse of eerie blue light enveloped the three Dragon Riders opposite him. With his abilities, he was actually only slightly inferior to Song Ren and Tian Gang, but that was when the latter were not riding their giant dragons. His sudden ambush caught Song Ren off guard, and his body hastily retreated as a yellow glow flashed and protected him from harm.

  I suddenly recognized that the dark blue ghost needle emitted by Furukawa was exactly the same as the one used by Mokuyou against me at the beginning. After releasing the hidden weapon, Furukawa didn't stop at all and flapped his wings to retreat quickly.

  The fierce wind reacted instantly, and as soon as it sensed the change, it let out a loud shout, "Where are you going?" A green light flew out, slashing towards the route where Kogawa was retreating. The dragon elder Qinglin, who had been lying on the side, stretched out his wing and blocked the path of the three Dragon Riders, causing the dark blue ghost needle to emit a clanging sound as it hit his dragon wing. However, this also blocked the pursuit route of the three Dragon Riders, slowing them down by a beat.

  Kogawa's wings fluttered continuously, his body twisting in mid-air as he flew straight towards my hiding place. My heart skipped a beat - this was bad, I would definitely be discovered now that I was in transformed state, and those dragon riders wouldn't listen to any reason from me. In an instant, I made up my mind.

  Just as Furukawa was about to fly in front of me, the fierce wind had also caught up, and the green mangroves surged forward. The surrounding trees were instantly torn apart by the violent energy, and a sword-shaped energy slashed down at Furukawa.

  Furukawa clasped his hands together in front of his chest, then suddenly separated them, and a compressed dark energy ball shot out, meeting the incoming attack. The two energies collided in mid-air, causing a massive energy fluctuation that shook my entire body. Furukawa spat out a mouthful of blood, and his body accelerated towards me using the recoil force. I knew he had already suffered severe injuries.

  The fierce wind was only momentarily stunned, and immediately came after him again. In his opinion, Kokawa had already been seriously injured and would definitely not be able to escape his grasp. Just as he thought this, I appeared, grasping Moku Me with both hands, letting Kokawa pass by, and activating the energy that had long been prepared. The dark magic power of my entire body suddenly burst forth, and Moku Me brought up a three-meter-long black blade that slashed towards the unprepared Fierce Wind.

  A fierce gust of wind shocked him, he hadn't expected that there was still an enemy hiding in the dark. Off guard, he could only barely muster his strength to resist, but this blow had been building up for a long time, even if his skills were far superior to mine, he still suffered a small loss, the green blade was scattered by me, and the fierce wind was shaken back in its angry roar.

  The intense counter-shock force made me feel extremely uncomfortable, spitting out a mouthful of blood. I flapped my four wings in unison, borrowing the force to retreat and quickly caught up with Furukawa. With one pull of my left hand, I threw him far away. The reason we were able to escape was entirely due to our opponent's carelessness. Rie thought he could capture us easily, but didn't expect to encounter another fallen angel with four wings. Tengen and Shoren had ample confidence in Rie, so they didn't chase after us together. After I repelled Rie, they got back on the giant dragon, which was already at a distance from us.

  Behind us, three loud dragon roars echoed through the mountains, I understood that the fierce winds would immediately urge the giant dragons to chase after us. Although they were very strong, as long as our fallen angel flew high into the air, they could only keep up with the help of the giant dragon's power. Furukawa's injuries were more severe than I had imagined, and he coughed out another mouthful of blood. If it weren't for me grabbing onto one of his wings, he probably wouldn't have had the strength to fly anymore.

  "I said in a low voice: 'Hold on, if they catch up with us, we're done.'"

  Kogawa was already in a semi-comatose state, but upon hearing my words, he somehow managed to muster up the strength to flap his dark wings.

  I turned my head to look at the three-headed giant dragon that was still some distance away, and suddenly had an idea. I pulled Kogawa towards the White Smoke Mountain. Although our fallen angel's long-distance flight wasn't weaker than the giant dragon's, after all, Kogawa was injured. Based on a warrior's code of honor, I couldn't abandon him, so we could only find a place to hide for now. Relying on my memory, I quickly found the cave where I had previously gone into seclusion. I moved the boulder and threw Kogawa inside, then used my dark magic to pull the boulder back in place and conceal it. The cave was instantly plunged into darkness. I moved swiftly to Kogawa's side and whispered urgently, "If you want to survive, hurry up and circulate your energy!" As I spoke, I sat down and placed both hands on the center of his four wings on his back, using my dark magic to stimulate his energy. Thanks to my previous experience healing wounds with Kofu and Koun, I quickly found the nearly depleted energy within Kogawa's body. Under my guidance, our two energies gradually merged into one, rapidly circulating as I wasn't trying to heal him, but rather stimulating this energy to envelop our bodies, completely concealing the aura around us. Only by hiding from the keen senses of the storm could we have any hope of survival.

  Just as I had composed myself, the sound of a stern voice came over, extremely clear despite being separated by thick and heavy boulders. "All Dragon Knights, listen up! Immediately search the entire White Smoke Mountain, you must find the hidden Fallen Angel. As soon as you discover anything, release the signal at once."

  I didn't dare to slack off, operating the dark magic to its limits, driving the energy of Kotogawa and converging our breaths.

  Gradually, the dark magic power in Furukawa's body gradually condensed, and his consciousness also gradually cleared up. He began to coordinate with me to operate the energy, and he knew what I wanted to do without saying a word. He could automatically operate the energy to cooperate with me, so I naturally felt much more at ease. We kept part of the energy to converge our breath, while another part of the energy started to heal wounds.

  Two dark magical auras permeated the entire small cave as we continued to move, and the isolation barrier that we had set up together was probably undetectable even outside. My hearing gradually recovered, and I could hear the occasional sounds of grass and trees from outside very clearly. I found out that not only were the dragon knights searching, but also the elite soldiers of the Dragon God Empire had joined in. It seemed that in order to keep the secret of the Holy Dragon Knights, Lü Feng was a bit anxious.

  The energy inside Furukawa is gradually becoming stronger, and our energy has truly merged into one body, operating rapidly. This way of healing wounds is much more effective than individual healing.

  …………

  I let out a deep breath and came to from my meditation, although there was no light in the cave, I could still vaguely see Kogawa's figure. According to my estimate, it had been at least seven days since then, and the Dragon Knights' search should have ended long ago. Not long after I woke up, Kogawa also slowly withdrew his aura, I knew that his powers had fully recovered as well, and the two of us healing together was quite effective. He let out a deep breath and said in a low voice: "It's like we've been reborn, Your Majesty, if you hadn't arrived on time, I'm afraid I would have already died at the hands of those old men. When did you recover your four wings?"

  Your Majesty? He must think I'm the Demon Emperor.

  Now everyone is on the same boat, and I've saved him before, so I'm not afraid of him turning against me. Coughing, I said: "Mr. Furukawa, I am not your subordinate."

  When he heard my voice, Furukawa's whole body shook, and his eyes flashed with light. After all, it was too dark, and he couldn't see my face clearly either. Since we were still in the midst of transforming, the dark magic made our minds extremely clear. In an instant, Furukawa understood that I wouldn't harm him; otherwise, I wouldn't have saved him.

  "What kind of person are you? How can you transform into a four-winged fallen angel. And why did you save me."

  I smiled slightly and said, "That day was really too dangerous. If it weren't for those few old guys being too careless, I'm afraid we would have all been left there. Since we can both transform into Four-Winged Fallen Angels, we are naturally of the same breath and branch. Moreover, we also have a bit of a familial relationship, so of course I had to save you."

  "Are you a member of our imperial family? I've never heard your voice before."

  I shook my head and said, "I'm not a member of your royal family, just someone with some connections. Now that it's come to this, I don't need to hide it from you anymore. The other day we met, I was the human you saw in the Beastman army, Rei Shin, the third son of King Ramal, Reiou."

  "What?!" Yukawa shouted in a loud voice, his body suddenly retreating back.

  "I said irritably, 'Speak softly, do you want to attract them all over here?'"

  Furukawa slowly regained his composure and asked, "You're the son of Old Bimon, so why can you become a Fallen Angel?"

  It seems that gaining his trust is not easy, I initially saved him for my own safety, secondly to get his support when going to the demon tribe to find Mo Yue, and thirdly out of a sense of justice. Now, I must tell the truth, lies can't deceive someone as astute as Kogawa. I sighed and said: "It's like this, my grandmother was from your demon tribe's royal family, she was sacrificed in a political marriage, to take revenge, she brought out a copy of the Heavenly Demon Scripture. And I, due to my grandmother's relationship, naturally have the bloodline of your demon tribe's royal family, my grandmother passed down the copy of the Heavenly Demon Scripture to me before she died, that's why I can transform into a Fallen Angel." As I spoke, I took out a diamond from my pocket, under the infusion of dark magic, it emitted a faint blue glow, although the light was very weak, but with our eyesight, we could see each other clearly.

  Furukawa stared at me blankly. For now, the demon and beast tribes are already in a state of hostility. Being rescued by an enemy, his heart probably isn't feeling good either. Furukawa muttered to himself: "Impossible, absolutely impossible. The Heavenly Demon Seal is the highest cultivation technique of my demon tribe. You're only in your early twenties, how can you possibly cultivate it to the seventh level?"

  I recall the scene when I broke through, my face turned red, and I said: "I also relied on a combination of luck and circumstance to reach the seventh layer realm. As for how I achieved it, please forgive me for not being able to tell you. Our current situation is not optimistic, although they have stopped searching, there are still many people from the Dragon God Empire outside, we are now tied to a rope, I hope you can put aside your prejudices, only by leaving here can we discuss other things."

  Kogawa nodded and said, "Yes, I didn't expect that those old guys are still alive."

  I sighed and said, "It's not just them who are alive. You don't know that the Dragon God Empire has a Holy Dragon Knight Corps, which is composed of 17 retired dragon riders. Think about it, with their power, how strong they are! The ancestors of the Dragon God were once warned by the gods not to casually exterminate the demon and beast tribes, otherwise, with their power, how could we have survived until now? In the past, we dared to launch a surprise attack on your Dundell Province because we knew that the Dragon God would not easily send troops. And later, it was easy for us to negotiate with you because we knew how powerful the Dragon God's power was. Therefore, our demon and beast tribes must unite to resist the Dragon God Empire together, or there will be no way out. I hope you can advise the Demon Emperor when you return not to casually launch a war against the Dragon God Empire. That would be meaningless."

  Perhaps thinking of the situation that day, Furukawa's face showed a look of despair, saying: "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I really couldn't believe those old guys are still alive. Yeah, even if all the power of our two tribes is added up, we can't pose any threat to the Dragon God. I'll go back and tell His Majesty."

  "You seem to have some understanding of the Dragon Knights we met that day, can you tell me about it?" As I said this, I removed my disguise, which was a sign of trust towards Kogawa. Only by doing so could I make Kogawa abandon his vigilance and hostility towards me.

  He glanced at me and dispelled his transformation, saying: "There's no need to hide this either. Those two Dragon Knights, Huang Jiaolong and Bai Jialong, were famous 60 years ago. At that time, our Demon Clan had three Four-Winged Fallen Angels who fought them multiple times, but none of those battles yielded any results. Another 60 years have passed since then, so you can imagine how strong they are now. If we add the giant dragon to the mix, even if we two were to join forces, it's uncertain whether we could take down just one of them. And that Qing Jiaolong is even more unimaginable... from Tian Gang and Song Ren's way of addressing him, I roughly guessed his identity - he should be one of the three strongest Dragon Knights who appeared in the Dragon God Empire over a hundred years ago: Mie Feng Zhan Shen Lie Feng. With the addition of the Light-attribute Great Demon Mage known as the Guardian Deity of Light, Tian Yun, and Yue Yu Zhan Shen Yue Wu Ya, they are simply a nightmare for both our Demon Clan and your Beastman Tribe. In that era, we two clans were suppressed by them to the point where we didn't dare make any moves. What's most terrifying about those three isn't just their overwhelming strength; it's also that their strength earned the trust of the Dragon Clan - the Dragon King even dispatched the Three Great Elders as their mount dragons. According to what Tian Gang said today, I'm afraid all three of them are still alive... if that's the case, then any one of them could sweep through our two clans without encountering any opponents. It's too terrifying! Why didn't we have any news about them at all?

  Having witnessed the true power of Lü Feng, I wouldn't dare to refute him. Even now, I still feel a lingering fear for my actions in saving Gu Chuan. "Are you saying that over a hundred years ago, Lü Feng had already reached the level of a war god?"

  Furukawa shook his head and said, "At that time, Retsu and Getsuei had both reached the level of Upper Rank Sword Saint. The most frightening thing was not them, but Tenku's father, the great demon commander Ten'un, who was the first dragon knight in the history of the Dragon God and is still the only one to this day. He was able to gain the recognition of the Dragon King through his magic, so you can imagine how powerful he must be. I once heard from my elders that Ten'un had used a light system magic to heal over 1 million wounded soldiers of the Dragon God Empire on the battlefield. A hundred years later today, wouldn't his power be comparable to that of a god?"

  I nodded and said, "I've heard them mention in conversation that Liefeng has already reached the level of a mid-tier War God. By extension, Tianyun must have at least reached the level of a mid-tier Saintly Devil Master. Originally, I thought I was very strong, but compared to them, it's like comparing a grain of rice to a shining pearl."

  Kogawa sighed and said, "The appearance of the five-colored halo here can make Lie Feng come to investigate. It seems that there must be a great secret hidden in it. If we get that secret, we might have the power to counterattack. However, even Lie Feng couldn't do it, let alone us. Moreover, they still have that one pass guarded. I've decided to give up and return to the Demon Clan to warn His Majesty, and vigorously develop our clan's strength. Hopefully, after a few generations, we'll have enough manpower to counter the Dragon God."

  The emergence of the fierce wind dealt a huge blow to Furukawa's confidence, and seeing his dejected appearance, it's likely that he'll struggle to make progress in the Tenma Decision from now on. For cultivators at our level, the shadow in one's heart can greatly impact our cultivation. Although Furukawa gave up, I will never give up - I must become an unparalleled strongman! Fierce Wind? Right now, I may not be able to defeat him, but someday, I'll strike him down, and that Dragon Clan elder, even the Dragon King! Thinking of this, my confidence suddenly recovered, and two cold glints shot out from my eyes. Under Fierce Wind's provocation, a strong fighting spirit surged up within me.

  Furukawa was startled by my sharp gaze and said, "You don't want to go again, do you? Let me advise you, don't have any illusions, with Rie around, you won't have any chance."

  I smiled slightly and said: "In terms of seniority, I should call you Uncle Kawahara, but your behavior can't make me admire you. Knowing the difficulty and still taking action is the true character of a hero!"

  Furukawa listened, stunned for a moment, and shook his head with a bitter smile: "Young man, you think too simply. Some things can't be done just because you have a firm belief. It's really naive to think that way. Since you insist on doing this, I won't stop you. If you're lucky enough not to die, I'll repay the debt of gratitude for saving my life in the future."

  I smiled and shook my head, saying: "No need to repay the favor, I just hope you can keep it a secret that I transformed into a fallen angel. If I don't die, I'll definitely go to the demon tribe to find you, so rest assured, I won't do anything detrimental to your demon tribe again. With such a powerful enemy as the dragon god, our two tribes of demons and beasts have no choice but to unite. I will temporarily retreat to a small town outside the mountain to wait for an opportunity. There is always a gap in every defense, I don't believe that Liefeng and the others can stay there without moving. There will always be opportunities." Gu's concern for me touched my heart, and he spoke more politely than before.

  Kogawa knew that I couldn't be persuaded, shook his head and said: "It's still too early to talk about these things now, let's think of a way to get out of here first."

  I nodded, having been trapped here for several days, my stomach had long been empty, if it weren't for the two of us having profound skills and being in a state of constant cultivation, I'm afraid we wouldn't have been able to hold on. I put away the diamond, walked to the giant stone by the door, first concentrated my mind to listen to the movements outside, after confirming safety, I stuck my body to it, operated my arms, and gently lifted up the giant stone, moving it slightly outward, revealing a small gap, a ray of bright sunlight entered, dazzling us into narrowing our eyes, fresh air carrying the fragrance of grass and trees instantly cleared away the foul air inside the cave. After a long while, I came to somewhat, and peered outside through the gap. The outside was quiet, with only some faint insect chirps and bird calls coming from afar, but I knew that hidden outside was mortal danger.

  I whispered to Furukawa Michiaki: "It should be afternoon now, let's wait until evening before we make our move."

  Furukawa Michi: "So sudden?"

  I nodded and said, "My stomach can't take it anymore. Aren't you parched? We have to get out of here quickly, otherwise, we won't need them to catch us, we'll be done for ourselves." As I spoke, I waved my hand and conjured up two water balls using low-level water magic, handing one to Furukawa and putting the other in my mouth. Although this magic-conjured pure water element could quench our thirst, it had no taste at all, making it even worse than drinking plain water. We each drank three water balls, and only then did our spirits lift slightly. Our bodies were no longer dehydrated, but the hunger pangs in our stomachs grew even stronger.

  That night, I quietly exited the cave with Kogawa, thanks to this secret cave that was left behind at first. Otherwise, we might not have been able to escape that day. I covered up the cave again and we whispered in unison: "Darkness gathers souls, falling is freedom, awaken, endless magic in my blood." Although transforming would release a strong dark aura, we had no choice but to transform to escape. Our four wings unfolded behind us, I gripped Moku tightly, exchanged a glance with Kogawa, and quietly took off. We flew almost hugging the ground, not too fast, as we needed to dodge obstacles ahead. As we flew low, we suppressed the dark aura emanating from our bodies, lest we startled a dragon knight and attracted the attention of the Erwind.

  We soon arrived at the foot of the mountain, and I stopped and crouched on the ground, whispering to Kogawa: "Be careful, ahead is the defense line of those ordinary soldiers." The surroundings were quiet, but the silence was filled with danger. I knew that in the past few hundred meters, we would enter the warning range of the Ryujin soldiers, so I stopped here to remind Kogawa.

  Furukawa Michiaki: "I know, when I came, I flew over them, what do we do now, are we going to fly out again?"

  I shook my head and said, "No way, with our appearance, there must be dragon knights patrolling in the air. Once we're discovered, it won't be easy to deal with them. Let's go on foot."

  "Which way shall we go? The ground is full of their people."

  I gave a mysterious smile and said, "Crawl forward, their defensive range is about 100 meters apart between each squad, although they are staggered, but as long as we find the gap between each one, slowly crawling past will do. However, be sure to hold your breath, don't get detected, although they are ordinary soldiers, this place is also the elite troops of the Dragon God."

  "Go over? You want me to go over?" Furukawa said in surprise.

  I gave him a white eye and said, "How did you humiliate your identity? This is the best way. Ordinary people can't even do this, only we can rely on our keen spiritual awareness to determine the opponent's ambush position in advance. This is the best way. If you're not afraid of death, fly out yourself, I don't want to die young."

  Kogawa also knew it was the safest way, reluctantly nodded and said, "Okay, let's climb."

  Thus, we embarked on a slow and arduous journey of crawling. Two hours later, when we left the White Smoke Mountain range, our entire bodies, especially the clothes in front of our chests, were almost completely worn out. In order not to be discovered by the other party, we had to remove our transformation and crawl, which was a great sin. Especially for Furukawa, he didn't have my tough skin, his delicate skin that had been pampered for a long time was scraped in many places, and there were bloodstains all over his body.

  I lay on the flat grass with Kogawa, gazing up at the twinkling stars in the sky. It wasn't that we didn't want to move, but we were simply too exhausted to go on. Just a while ago, when we were crawling, all our energy was used to conceal our breathing, and it was only by relying on our hands and feet that we managed to crawl out bit by bit. Even so, there were several times when we almost got discovered by the Ryujin soldiers.